We all know the platform has had its ups and downs lately—like that not-so-popular decision to clamp down on ad blockers. But don’t worry, YouTube hasn’t forgotten about user experience. They’re cooking up some new features to make things a bit smoother for us, and one in particular has caught our eye this week. You know that clunky sharing menu that pops up from the bottom when you hit the Share button on mobile? Well, it’s getting a makeover.
Big thanks to Android whiz Mishaal Rahman for spotting this one. YouTube is working on changing that old share sheet into a sleek floating option. Rahman even shared some screenshots, and it looks like he took them on a foldable phone. So now we get to see what this new sharing menu is going to look like, whether your device is folded or not.
let’s dive a bit deeper into YouTube’s new sharing menu. When you unfold your screen, the floating bar neatly centers itself, while in portrait mode it still hangs out at the bottom—just a tad higher than before. Mishaal Rahman, our go-to Android guru, also noticed that you can scroll horizontally through the sharing options in these floating menus. Handy, right?
Now, here’s where things get interesting. This move could be part of Google’s grand plan to standardize the sharing sheet across all Android devices, possibly rolling out with Android 14. Earlier, Google was seen tinkering with a copy of Android 13’s share menu that could be updated directly via Google Play Services. That means we could see quicker fixes and updates to the share menu without waiting for a whole system update. Pretty cool, huh?
As of now, only a lucky few, including Rahman and at least one person on the AP team, have spotted the new share menu. But given that I’ve already seen the updated floating share sheet on my test device for the web version, it looks like it’s headed for a wider release soon. So keep an eye out—you might be next in line for this upgrade!